Conference Call No. 19
October 5, 2005

Acting for the Division I Management Council, the Division I Legislative Review/Interpretations Committee issued the following interpretations:

Financial Aid/Equivalency Computations

1. Increase of Institutional Aid -- Equivalency Computations. The committee determined that the prohibition related to increasing institutional financial aid during the period of an award applies only to student-athletes who are counters. Therefore, a student-athlete who is receiving only nonathletically related institutional financial aid may receive an initial award of athletically related institutional financial aid at any point during the period of the nonathletically related award. The committee also determined that if a student-athlete in an equivalency sport becomes a counter at any point during the academic year, all countable institutional aid received during that academic year is countable toward the student-athlete's equivalency. [References: NCAA Bylaws 15.3.4.2 (increase permitted), 15.5.1 (counters) and 15.5.3.2 (equivalency computations); and a 9/7/88 staff interpretation, item f, which has been archived.]

Financial Aid/Equivalency Computations

2. Equivalency Computation for a Student-Athlete who is no Longer a Member of the Team and whose Athletics Aid is Canceled. The committee determined that in equivalency sports, in a situation in which a student-athlete is dismissed from a team or voluntarily withdraws from a team and his or her athletically related financial aid is canceled, if the aid is canceled during a term, all other countable financial aid the student-athlete receives during the remainder of the term is countable toward the student-athlete's equivalency for the academic year; however, an institution is not required to count other countable financial aid toward the student-athlete's equivalency during any remaining terms of the academic year. If a student-athlete is dismissed from a team or voluntarily withdraws from a team and his or her athletics aid is canceled at the end of a term, an institution is not required to count other countable financial aid toward the student-athlete's equivalency during any remaining terms of the academic year. [References: Bylaws 15.3.4.1 (reduction or cancellation permitted), 15.5.1 (counters) and 15.5.3.2 (equivalency computations); and a 8/2/91 staff interpretation, item a, which has been archived.]